Monday February 3, 2014 Monte Rio CA.
Looks like the river’s mouth is partly closed
I drove on down to Jenner today and took a look at the river’s mouth from the overlook on highway 1 to see how it was doing? Looks to me like it’s partly closed. I say partly, because high tides can still push water into the river at this stage. The ocean is rough too.
The harbor seals seem to be in a good spot to greet any big fish coming into the river on their spawning journey. :O)
Russian River mouth today.
Back to Monte Rio to kayak
I was going to go kayaking at Jenner, but as I was taking pics from the overlook a chilly wind was blowing though me, so I decided to go back to Monte Rio.
I put my boat in the water at the boat ramp and headed on down the river.
River view just below Monte Rio, going down the river. Not much wind here.
Casini’s Ranch
I worked my way on down to Casini’s Ranch, where I started to run into a bunch of fishermen. Just as I approached Brown’s hole, just below the Casini’s riffle, this guy gets a fish on. Note the steelhead on the beach to the right, caught earlier.
The fish put up a good fight and he turned it loose. He’s got it in his hand, but it’s hard to see.
I worked my way on down to the Duncan’s Mills bridge through the fishermen. There are a couple boats down towards the bridge that were having some luck.
Charlie catches steelhead fish
I turned around at the bridge and started back up. I ran into Charlie, who just happened to have a bunch of fish rolling in front of him just above the fire house. He said he had one on earlier, but a harbor seal took it off his line.
As I was talking with him he hooked a steelhead fish. It put up quite a fight, before he landed it.
Here is Charlie with a fish on.
He finally landed it and then returned it to the water as it was a native fish, which can not be kept and must be returned to the water.
More fishermen were joining him when I left and headed back up the river, talking with some fishermen as I went.
I ran into the little flock of black crowned night herons just above the Moscow hole.
This one is a female.
I spotted a bunch of fish just above Moscow hole, right near the night herons in the shallows. The steelhead go to the shallows to stay away from the harbor seals.
I continued up the river towards Sheraton Beach, which is up to the left in this photo, just out of sight.
When I got to the Villa Grande hole, I stopped to take a much needed break just above the hole in this spot.
After resting up a bit, I continued on up towards Monte Ro, which is up under the mountain in this picture.
Just as I was approaching the boat ramp a draft boat put in that had come down the river from Guerneville. Seems they had a bunch of luck fishing today.
They unloaded their fish and were taking pictures of their catch, so I got this picture of them.
I shot the bull with these guys for a bit, then pulled my boat out of the water and went on home for the day.
Nice day on the river.
